


The World Could Change It's Heart

by an0mally



Category: The Willoughbys (2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Hair, Body hair shame, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Mentions of Blood, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Nanny is a good mom, Willoughby women are badass feminists you can't change my mind, nothing big but it's there, tim is a good brother, tween girl angst, unfair beauty standards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27194098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/an0mally/pseuds/an0mally
Summary: Jane was ecstatic when she first got it.It was what signified her perceived “greatness” as a Willoughby, after all, and she got to rub the fact that she got a mustache beforeTimright in his face. He reacted as expected, with pouting and jealousy, but underneath it all one could tell he was nothing but proud of his baby sister, as was the rest of the family.Then, she went to school the next day.
Relationships: Jane and Nanny, Jane and Original Character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	The World Could Change It's Heart

Jane was ecstatic when she first got it. 

It was what signified her perceived “greatness” as a Willoughby, after all, and she got to rub the fact that she got a mustache before _Tim_ right in his face. He reacted as expected, with pouting and jealousy, but underneath it all one could tell he was nothing but proud of his baby sister, as was the rest of the family.

Then, she went to school the next day.

The signs were there, but she’d always disregarded them. She’d ignored phrases like “girl-stache” and hadn’t thought about how happy her best friend Kristy had been when she’d gotten her whole face threaded for her thirteenth birthday. Jane had ignored every sign up until she found herself crying in the girl’s bathroom with Kristy at her side offering a shoulder, the relentless teasing from her classmates having broken her and the realization finally setting in.

_She was ugly. This mustache made her ugly._

And so Jane found herself awake at ungodly hours one morning, careful in her movements so as to not wake any of her family, with a singular drug store wax strip she’d procured from her friend at school. She crept her way to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror, at the offending hairs on her lip that she’d once been so proud of.

The reality of what she was about to do set in as Jane rubbed the strip between her palms. _What would Tim think of her for this?_ Surely he’d be furious she’d disrespect her heritage like this, but was it worth the torment from her peers? _Wow, this thing really sticks on there, huh?_ It’s not like he could even understand, anyway. _Don’t scream. **Rip**. Oh, that hurt. That REALLY hurt._ If it were Tim with the mustache, nobody would care. They’d even praise him for being “manly” or whatever! 

Jane looked back up in the mirror, tears pricking from her eyes, and saw that she missed an entire spot. _Crap._ She swore she saw tweezers in the medicine cabinet somewhere. Once acquired, she suppressed her pained shouts once more and set out to finish the job. _Was that supposed to bleed? Oh god. Oh no…_

It took one look at her face, lip red and inflamed and pricking with blood in tiny spots, for Jane to collapse to the floor sobbing. She didn’t know what made her more upset; the fact that her face looked even WORSE now or the shame she felt from defiling something that was _supposed_ to show how great she was. Jane wrestled with these thoughts until she heard a soft knock at the door.

“All good in there?”

_Nanny._

“D-Don’t come in!” Jane shouted, the pain in her voice must’ve shown through a little too much as Nanny inquired again.

“ _Jane?_ Jane what’s wrong?”

“ **Nothing**!” Her voice cracked a little too much there and suddenly Nanny’s shadow was over her. Jane didn’t dare show her face as her adoptive mother knelt down to her level.

“Look at me.”

Jane shook her head and held a hand to her mouth. 

“It’s okay. Whatever it is, I’m _not_ mad, Jane. Just...please look at me.”

Hesitantly, Jane turned her head towards Nanny, hand still covering her mouth and lips. Nanny gave an assuring smile as if to tell her she was safe, and she slowly brought her hand away. Nanny’s expression shifted to one of shock as soon as she saw the cause of Jane’s distress. 

“Oh, _honey_ …”

“I’msorryI’msorry please don’t tell Tim!” Jane managed between sobs. “I...the other kids...they…”

Jane’s next words failed as she melted into Nanny’s embrace, her adoptive mom rubbing circles into her back as she spoke with nothing but understanding and love.

“Shh, Jane...baby you’re okay. It’s okay…” Nanny herself sounded like she could cry any moment as she realized exactly what her daughter was going through. “Tim’s not gonna say a word, okay? I’ll make sure of it.”

Jane managed a brief, weak smile as she pulled away from her mother’s embrace. Nanny acquired a washcloth and got it wet with cool water, then dabbed it on Jane’s face as she continued to speak. 

“Listen to me, tiny girlfriend, whatever they said to you at school...that couldn’t be farther from the truth. They’re gonna try and convince you otherwise but you’re _beautiful_ , got it? You’re a beautiful girl.”

Another smile, this one a little less weak as Jane tried with everything in her to internalize Nanny’s words. It was hard, but she tried, and hugged her mother in return.

“Thank you...”

__

As promised, Tim said nothing about the mustache-less state of Jane’s face the next morning, and neither did the twins or Melanoff. Nanny must’ve had a talk with them ahead of time, explaining what a sore subject it was for their sister/adoptive daughter. (And that it wasn’t even their place to judge as men and boys…) However Jane did notice the brief, concerned glances her siblings would throw her way at the breakfast table, and that Melanoff slipped a candy bar into her lunch sack and for once Nanny didn’t object.

Another boring if slightly more bearable day at school passed and Jane threw her backpack down on her bedroom floor. She glanced up and was perplexed to see a stack of paper on her bed, a note next to it. Jane picked up the note and recognized Tim’s handwriting immediately.

_I know you think history_  
_is boring, but I found these_  
_and thought of you._

_♡ Tim._

She picked up the thick packet, flipped through, and was met with vintage photographs of women. _Willoughby_ women sporting mustaches not unlike those of the men in the paintings from their old house, and they were _beautiful_. Jane continued flipping through the pictures in awe and eventually came across a scan of a news clipping from the early 1900s that read:

**WILLOUGHBY LADIES STAGE DEMONSTRATION  
** **OUTSIDE OF HARPER’S BAZAAR,  
CITING “ANTI-MUSTACHE PROPAGANDA”**

****

****

She laughed at the absurdity and frankly, the _awesomeness_ of a bunch of women with mustaches burning copies of a fashion magazine outside their headquarters, and continued to be in awe at their boldness even in a time such as the 1900s. Jane knew the Willoughbys were a notoriously progressive family, but didn’t truly know what that meant until now.

These women didn’t face all that scrutiny back then for her to feel like she wasn’t beautiful today.

Jane ripped a few of the pictures and the news clipping from the packet and taped them up next to her vanity mirror, the perfect place to remind herself when she needed it.

**Author's Note:**

> (Why yes I did get the title from Scars To Your Beautiful because how could I not?? It's Jane herself singing it...)
> 
> I've had this idea in my head ever since I saw the movie and hadn't had the energy to write it till now! I thought it deserved it's own little one-shot independent from TTLATH, though it is in the same universe!
> 
> I'll be back with more chapters on TTLATH soon as well, in the meantime, hope you enjoyed this one! I may or may not add another chapter or two to this if I feel inspired, since I've got a few headcanons re: Jane and her complex relationship with her facial hair. We'll see!


End file.
